Page 21 of The Immortal's One
One second, he’s looming over me, his face twisted with malice. The next, he's yanked off the ground, his body flying through the air—vanishing beyond my blurred vision as though some invisible hand had hurled him away.
My head spins. My body is too weak to let my eyes follow his path.
I try to focus on what’s in front of me, but the darkness creeping into my vision makes it impossible. The world starts to tilt, and the parking lot around me begins to fade—shapes and sounds distorting into a haze.
Just before I close my eyes, I glimpse a face. The edges are unclear, shifting like a mirage, and then a voice—distant, muffled—breaks through the fog.
“Darcie?”
I force my eyes open again, the effort making my skull throb. The face remains a blur, slipping further out of focus with every passing second.
"Darcie, can you hear me?"The voice cuts through the fog again, this time urgent, filled with concern.
That’s a good sign.
Whoever this is, he’s not like the others.
A bad guy wouldn’t sound worried.
"Damnit, Darcie. Talk to me."
The voice is male, tight with worry. Desperate. And in that desperation, I sense a lifeline; something to hold on to in the midst of the overwhelming chaos.
I want to respond, to reassure him that I’m still here. But my body betrays me, my limbs heavy, my thoughts blurring. Pain and exhaustion have taken over, and all I can do is drift, sinking deeper into the void pulling me down.
I lift a silent prayer that whoever hovers over me is truly a friend, that he’ll get me out of this nightmare.
I cling to that last thread of hope before I give in to the darkness and slip into unconsciousness.
7
So much fornot being abducted.
The moment sunlight presses against my eyes, dragging me from a sleep that barely dulled the ache in my body, I know I’m not in my bedroom.
Sharp gravel.
A body slamming into a car with a sickening thud.
Screams slicing through the air like jagged glass.
The memories hit me hard, flooding my mind with terrifying clarity and coating my veins with fresh fear.
I try to sit up, but a jolt of agony through my ribs has me collapsing with a gasp. The soft pillow beneath my head offers only fleeting comfort. My body screams with pain, and it takes everything I have just to open my eyes.
The room is… ornate. Dark wood furniture, heavy and grand, sits throughout the room. Golden knobs glint on the dresser like they've been recently polished. White lace curtains flutter in the breeze blowing through the window to my left. A beautiful mural of pink and purple clouds covers the ceiling.
Where the hell am I?
My fingers brush against the fabric covering my body. It’s lace, too. The pale lavender hue matches the delicate floral wallpaper lining the walls. Four carved spiral posts reach up from the corners of the bed, twisting toward the ceiling like something out of an old storybook. Flowers and vines curl into the woodwork, as if carved by hand.
You'd expect to find this room in a grandparent’s house—not that I would know. I never met my grandparents, but Dad’s old antique desk, which he inherited from his late father, would feel right at home here.
I exhale slowly, trying to gather my thoughts.
This… this isn’t the kind of place a kidnapper would stash someone, right?
Maybe my abductor had a change of heart. Maybe they don’t plan on hurting me. Maybe they have a reason for bringing me here.
